


In Your Eyes

by tsukikomew



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 23:30:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7594600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukikomew/pseuds/tsukikomew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Oliver Queen had returned to Starling City instead of being rescued from the island? He meets Felicity Smoak as the Hood and begins to question if staying away from his family was the right idea. When Felicity gets caught between Oliver Queen and The Hood, he has to decide exactly what kind of man he intends to be. Also why is Felicity Smoak so interested in Oliver Queen when he's supposed to be dead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is something that has been rattling around my head since I started working on "Remarkable". It will update in conjunction with "Remarkable".

 

A few weeks ago when all of this started Felicity Smoak, resident Starling City I.T. Girl and total coffee junkie, never thought for one second she would find herself where she is right now. In fact her mind is whirling trying to compute how any of this could have happened at all. It was the dumplings. She knows that now. Those damn dumplings. Those amazing dumplings.

 

Six weeks ago it all starts just perfectly normal. The sun is shining and birds are chirping. Well close to chirping. Starling City doesn’t really traffic in birds much. Either way Felicity gets up and heads for her coffee maker, hitting the button a little more forcefully than usual. She needs that caffeine to get through the day. She desperately needs the coffee to get her brain working in order to take orders from that pompous asshole who is technically her superior. It hardly matters she can code better, work faster, and generally is better liked. He has the job and she has to suffer. It also kind of hurts she is the only woman in the department. This is 2012! Where are the ladies?!

 

Regardless she knows it is up to her to soldier on and prove women are just as capable at Queen Consolidated. The sexism just leaves a little to be desired. All of the higher ups are men. All of them. Plus every time they get a new security guard, he just assumes she is a secretary. Yeah...she doesn’t get coffee for anyone. Ever.

 

Opening her closet, she considers her options. Her eyes immediately fall on her brightly colored dresses. Her closet is filled with pinks, reds, blues, yellows, oranges, and greens. Oh that emerald green dress she bought. It was silky and could ride that line of professional and personal. The moment she saw it she just had a vision of a man’s hand slipping down over her shoulders to dig into the slightly lower than professional back. She also felt like the skirt would feel great sliding up over her legs.

 

Shaking her head she almost laughs. She hasn’t been on a date in over a year and the likelihood of finding a man before the dress falls out of style or she gains weight was unlikely. Especially after all those trips to Big Belly Burger. Either way she slips all her pretty dresses and pretty heels to the side and pulls out her boring work clothes. Adjusting her glasses and ponytail she completes the look.

 

She buttons each button on the blouse and straightens the longer skirt. Her practical low heels almost make her cringe as she slips her newly pedicured toes into them. They deserve to be shown off in one of her pairs of cute shoes. Sighing she tugs the practical purse off the hook and heads for the coffee pot. 

 

When she finds the thing hissing steam and doing nothing she almost starts to cry. She needs coffee. She needs it like air. How is she supposed to get through another meeting where she’s forced to pretend to be deaf when the orders for coffee goes around? She knows the guys expect her to get it but she always makes sure she’s busy or she’s nursing a cup of coffee she brought with her, making them seem unprepared.

 

She’s a Smoak woman after all. So she just squares her shoulders and leaves her apartment, locking the door behind her. She’ll just stop at the local coffee shop, pick up her coffee, and head into work to deal with whatever miserable thing is on the agenda for the day.

* * *

 

Moira Queen is in the house. That’s enough to scare Felicity senseless. Mrs. Queen is one of those women who falls apart in private and comes rushing into her company like some Amazonian warrior at the first sign of failure. She never misses a beat, that woman, and when she hears rumblings of Applied Sciences being mismanaged, she is right there breathing down I.T.’s neck.

 

“I’m not even going to ask you what level of incompetence led to this failure but I expect you will be fixing the error,” she says pointedly. Felicity’s boss is not one of those people who should ever hold a management job. He immediately starts shifting and looking towards the doorway. There is no rescue coming Dick. There is no covert, special forces kind of mission heading your way. You are staring down the barrel of the Queen matriarch’s gun. Find your big boy pants and try not to mess up the leather.

 

Felicity rolls her eyes when Dick stammers back to Mrs. Queen. That is not the way to handle this problem. Mrs. Queen wants a timetable, a slightly unrealistic one. You need six weeks? Say seven and hope she doesn’t notice. If you have to short-change yourself then say five. No don’t promise four!

 

“That’s unrealistic,” she says while Dick sweats himself into the leather. She can’t help but hope they can just toss the thing. She shudders at the thought of sitting there at a future meeting.

 

“And you are?” Mrs. Queen says, turning to look at her.

 

“Nobody Mrs. Queen,” Dick stammers. “She’s just the junior assistant.”

 

“I’m actually a junior associate,” Felicity corrects. Turning to Mrs. Queen “The timeline Dick is promising you is unrealistic. It’s going to take at least that amount of time for four of us to get the basic set-up ready. We’re going to need two weeks more to bring everything up to standard. Six weeks would be the absolute earliest we could have this done.”

 

“Ms. Smoak!” Dick angrily demands. “That’s enough.”

 

“Is that true Dick?” Mrs. Queen asks him. “Six weeks at the earliest?”

 

“Well...I mean it’s more realistic but I’m sure we can do it sooner,” Dick finally admits.  “I’ll put Rodgers, Williams, Bennett, and myself on it.”

 

“I want her on the team,” Mrs. Queen says pointing at Felicity. “You can remove whomever you think is less valuable.”

 

“She is not a full technician,” Dick explains. “She’s a junior associate.”

 

“Credentials Ms. Smoak?” Mrs. Queen demands.

 

“M.I.T. Class of ‘09, top of my class. I ranked second in the National Information Technology competition. Mr. Steele hired me out from under Kord Industries in ‘09. I’ve been building computers since I was seven...wires are wires.”

 

“I think Ms. Smoak will be a wonderful addition to the team,” Mrs. Queen says. She turns to leave and pauses in the doorway, “Oh and Dick? Ms. Smoak will be reporting on the progress. Try to keep things honest.”

 

Felicity almost fist pumps the air. Her first big project. She catches herself when she sees the facial expressions of the men sitting around the table. Oh that’s not good. She just made some enemies. She sips her coffee and stares at Dick. She’s a Smoak woman. They don’t back down.

* * *

 

Later in the day she does pause in the lobby and stare at the memorial that sits there. On the fifth anniversary Moira Queen has finally decided to remember her husband and son in a public way. Felicity thinks she must have held onto hope for so long for their return and finally knows she needs to move on. Unfortunately she chooses the cliche. A fountain gurgles in the lobby with Robert and Oliver Queen’s names etched on the surface.

 

Thoughtfully Felicity remembers the time a few years earlier when she paused in Mr. Steele’s office. Oliver Queen had been cute although the picture probably didn’t do him justice. There was just something wrong with the hairstyle. It didn’t flatter him at all. Either way it is a shame another cute boy had disappeared from the tabloid pages. They are the best types of fantasy. You never get to know the people in the tabloids.

 

Humming to herself, offkey of course, she makes her way back to her tiny cubicle office. She hates the place with a passion and knows she should have gotten one of the offices. Sadly Dick has decided the other junior associate needs it more even though she has seniority. Either way she hates the cubicle but finds ways to make it her own. On the other hand, her decorations donot explain the handsome, tabloid-fodder man sitting in her chair.

 

“Can I help you?” she asks. 

 

The guy jumps up and looks at her sheepishly. He has been snooping. She knows that because her papers are slightly askew. He runs his fingers through his hair and then gives her this look. Every woman alive knows the look. Felicity calls it the ‘leave your panties at the door’ look. That look does not work on her. She works primarily with men so she’s built up a wall when that look is used.

 

“Felicity Smoak?”

 

“Yep,” she replies. “You can drop the charming, charming, charming smile Mr. Merlyn. It doesn’t work on me.”

 

“Sorry,” he says. “Habit. You know who I am?”

 

“That was your penis on the front cover of the Falling Star tabloid right?”

 

“It certainly was,” he says cockily.

 

“I’ve seen better,” she replies. She hasn’t but what does it matter. He doesn’t know that. “So what can I help you with or should I just call security?”

 

“The Collective Mind,” he says quickly. Felicity freezes and meets his eyes. She hasn’t heard those words in years. “You were one of them right? Back in 2008?”

 

“Where did you hear about that?” she asks quickly. “The only person alive other than me never would have spoken about it. Cooper’s dead. How did you hear about it?”

 

“You’d be surprised what money can buy on the quote unquote black market,” he replies. “I’ve gone through a lot of hackers in the past three years and no one has been able to deliver. I’m told you’re the best. I need the best.”

 

“And what do you need with the best hacker?”

 

“Someone sent me an email and I want to know who sent it,” he explains.

 

“Child’s play. Why do you need the best hacker?”

 

“Because it was sent by a dead man,” he says. He presses his fingers over his eyes and breathes deeply. “Three years ago I found a draft of an email in his email account. It was never actually sent but the message...it was from him, I know it.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Oliver Queen. If he tried to send me an email then he was alive then...two years after the Gambit went down.”

 

“Or someone else wanted you to think he was alive,” Felicity explains. “It could have been a phishing attempt. Pretend to be Oliver, ask for money and then take off.”

 

“No...no! It had...there was something in it that only Oliver would have said to me. Please just hear me out.”

* * *

 

Felicity lets him take her to an out of the way restaurant. Sitting down she looks around the wealth Mr. Merlyn commands and silently wonders what it is like to live with this kind of wealth. Regardless she orders something simple and waits for him to explain.

 

“Look I know it sounds crazy,” he begins. “How could Ollie be alive after five years? How could he have survived the Gambit going down? I can’t begin to understand it but I know it. He’s out there somewhere...or at least he was.”

 

“What information do you have?” she asks. For a pricey menu, the food is terrible. She can’t cook to save her life but she’s pretty sure she could manage something better than this.

 

“My previous hires managed to track the email to a closed-down internet cafe in Hong Kong. Here are the files and notes.”

 

“This is nearly impossible,” Felicity admits. “You’re talking a cold case hack from three years ago surrounding a place that no longer exists and any and all surveillance will have been destroyed.”

 

“Aren’t you the best?”

 

“That’s really not the issue. The issue is realism. It’s unlikely anyone could ever make these connections. This is the full issue. I can try and backtrace the surveillance in the city around this area but the likelihood they would have 3 year old data is unlikely. We’re talking small restaurants, shops, etc. We’re not talking military or high level data and/or security. It’s unlikely I’ll ever find the person who wrote this.”

 

“I have to try. If Ollie is out there...if he’s alive then I want to find him and bring him home. Please.”

 

Felicity considers him. He looks desperate but resigned. He wants this so bad but he won’t force the issue. He wants Oliver home but after so long, he’s starting to give up hope.

 

“I’ll be honest Mr. Merlyn, I’m not much of an optimist,” she begins, “Miracles are practically nonexistent anymore. Look at this city. The Glades are crumbling. The rich are getting richer on the backs of the poor. This city needs something to survive and I think maybe it’s started. Maybe there is a change around the corner. So yes I’ll take your case. It’s going to be slow. I work full-time and I don’t have the freedom I had in college.”

 

“How much?”

 

“Nothing for now,” she replies. “I’ll dig around and see if I can find anything. If I find something then we’ll negotiate...okay?”

 

“Yeah,” he replies. “You mean him, don’t you? The man in the hood? He’s who you mean when you talk about change.”

 

“I don’t like his methods but he’s making a difference. Crime is going down. The streets are getting safer.”

 

“He’s a killer.”

 

“He’s also a man,” she says. “Do you wonder what it must be like to be him? Hunted by the police. Hunted by criminals. Savior to those he rescues. Does he have a family? Does he walk around in our world during the day and put on the hood at night or is that all he is?”

 

“I don’t trouble myself with things like that. He’s a killer and I don’t want to come face to face with him. So you’ll take my case?”

 

“Yes. Mr. Merlyn. Send me anything else you have and I’ll take a look,” she says rising. “I need to get back.”

 

“Call me Tommy.”

* * *

Felicity follows the news while at work. She has to. At her core, she’s a hacker. She recognizes this as fact and watches for moments when her specific abilities might be useful. Her phone rings and she glances over at it.

 

_ Unknown Caller _

 

She ignores the call. She knows who it is and she has no interest in playing the game. They’ve reached out once since The Man in the Hood came to Starling. She doesn’t know why they are reaching out now. Surely they know who he is.

 

Felicity has never been and will never be government. She’s been courted over the years periodically. After Cooper she swore it off. No government work. None. No questions. She never wavers in that conviction. No matter what is offered.

 

Ignoring the insistent ringing she simply powers off the device and goes back to her actual job. Dick is on the warpath because of her interference at the meeting. Suddenly her easy, monitoring job has turned sour with hundreds of files being plunked on her desk. Complete them and then you may leave. Bastard.

 

Felicity just sits down and starts working. She’s not arrogant, per se, but she knows she’s the best at what she does. Her mind itches to start working on the search for Oliver Queen but instead she does her job. She goes over each file and completes each thing she’s supposed to do. The rest of the I.T. department leaves at normal time and as they watch her smirking, she just keeps going. 

 

Dinner comes and goes and she keeps working. She finally caves and puts her computer on the news. The stream is terrible but she gets the gist. She listens as Detective Lance makes his typical threats against the Man in the Hood. She listens as his daughter Laurel argues for an innocent man’s life. She listens as the Queen family speaks on the anniversary of Robert and Oliver’s deaths. 

 

She pauses at that and watches the screen for a moment. Tommy Merlyn is standing behind them and she watches his face throughout the whole delivery. He wants to find him. He’s holding onto hope and Felicity knows how easy it is for the hope to go away until it is snuffed out. She doesn’t want to be the one to crush him. She wants to find Oliver Queen just so no one else has to feel that. He’s a spoiled rich guy but he’s worried about his friend. 

 

She finally slides the last folder to the side and rolls her shoulders. The clock says 11:37 and she sighs. She needs to be back in at 7am. She tugs her jacket on and grabs her purse, fumbling for her cell phone. The best Chinese food is in the Glades. She shouldn’t go there this late. The dumplings though. THE dumplings.

 

She munches on an egg roll as she heads for her car. She just wants to head home, eat her food, and crawl into bed. She knows she’ll pull an all-nighter and start working on the Oliver Queen case. She’s being realistic. She knows she has to investigate it a little. It’s a puzzle and she has to solve it.

 

She doesn’t even notice the three guys. That’s a red flag. In Vegas she used to be able to spot them blocks away. The way they move. The swagger. Predators vs. prey. Eat or be eaten. She used to be good at it. Starling has made her softer which seems crazy considering the state of the city.

 

She notices them too late. One slides his arm around her waist and she pivots. Instinct takes over. A knee to the groin drops one. The second one she manages to catch across the nose. It’s the third one she doesn’t react too. He punches her in the stomach and she stumbles against her car. She tucks in and looks up at them. The second guy is on his feet. The third is still on the ground.

 

The two guys laugh and one holds up a knife, letting the light catch it. She shivers instinctively. She knows she can’t take them. The arrow shoots right through the guy with the knife and everything freezes. Three pairs of eyes fall on the arrow and the guy who has been hit freezes. Dropping, the knife clatters to the ground. Two more arrows fly and Felicity can’t help the scream that escapes her. Three arrows...three bodies.

 

She clutches her stomach and looks at the discarded Chinese. In the moment she really should be focusing on the guy shooting arrows but all she can think is...the dumplings! The poor, delicious dumplings. Shaking her head she looks back at the bodies surrounding her.

 

The man drops from a fire escape and keeps an arrow notched. His face is in shadow and she can’t make out anything about him. He’s tall and clearly muscular. He has a confident stance but otherwise she can’t tell anything. She can’t tell race or hair color or anything useful. He’s completely covered.

 

The arrow should frighten her. She knows he could kill her with it. Instead he slowly lowers the bow and arrow, slinging the arrow back into his quiver. Has anyone ever been this close to him? She doesn’t think so. Those who get close to him usually end up dead. Well actually they always end up dead.

 

“Are you alright?” he asks softly. She watches him and blinks rapidly. She can feel the blood on the side of her forehead. She glances down at the three men taken down by arrows and shudders. “Hey...you’re okay.”

 

She looks up at him and starts shivering. She’s stronger than this. She is. She knows she is. She should be able to push past what could have happened here. She doesn’t like feeling helpless. She’s never liked it and she thought she had gotten past it with the self-defense classes. She hasn’t.

 

“Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you.”

 

“Will you be okay?” he asks. 

 

“I...think so,” she says, lying. “Let me repay you.”

 

“No,” he says. “I don’t need credit.”

 

“A coffee then? I can run into that cafe down the block and buy you something. It’s cold out tonight and you...you’ll be out here for hours.”

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Felicity...Smoak. Felicity Smoak,” she stammers. She blinks and he’s in front of her. His bow is held tightly in his left hand. It bumps her leg before he swivels it away from her. 

 

“Be safe Felicity Smoak,” he says. “I’ll be watching to make sure you make it to safety. Don’t come into the Glades at night.”

 

“You’re here though. You always seem to be in the Glades.”

 

“I can’t be everywhere,” he says. 

 

“What you’re doing...thank you,” she says. “I know they paint you as a killer on tv and I don’t agree with your methods but you’re making a difference. Do you need anything?”

 

“Anything?”

 

“Food or money? You protect the city every night and get nothing in return. Can I...is there anything I can do for you?”

 

“Stay safe,” he replies. 

 

“If you need anything...I work at Queen Consolidated. You can come to me if you need anything okay?”

 

“Okay.”

 

That exchange lasts only a few minutes and then she leaves. Driving down the road, she can see him jumping from rooftop to rooftop as she travels the four blocks home. Turning at the entrance to her apartment she sees him on the roof across the street. There’s no way she can believe tonight will be anything more than a memory of a man being a hero. There is no way for her to know what will happen in six weeks. There’s no way she can predict how he’ll keep entering her life again and again. 

 

Except for the next six weeks all of those things happen. Sleeping with a man whose face you’ve never seen and whose name you never learned, goes against everything she believes in. Falling in love with him? That’s just crazy. Deep down, Felicity has always been a little crazy.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is probably the shortest chapter. I can't stand the scenes building up to their first meeting so I tend to have shorter beginning chapters. The canon is going to be very divergent. While "Remarkable" follows the show chronology for the most part, this story is complete divergence. Oliver doesn't have a support system and he doesn't have a day life. Instead he's the Hood 24/7. 
> 
> Felicity is going to fall in love with the Hood and later discover he's Oliver. I wanted to pursue this aspect in "Remarkable" but it didn't fit with the narrative. This story is all about that. 
> 
> Also, as a general heads up, this is not going to turn into a love triangle or a Flommy fic. Felicity and Tommy will be friends and maybe even like siblings at some points. 
> 
> Whether or not other canon characters, stories, etc. will happen will depend as I move forward. I'm intending for this to be somewhere between 4-10 chapters but we'll see. I'm rarely right.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed snarky Felicity and a different style of Moira Queen.


End file.
